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Saturday, May 17, 2014

At the border between jewel craft and art

Hey there!

Today I visited the KHM in Vienna - the "Kunsthistorisches Museum" (museum of art history) was built in the late 19th century together with its twin the "Naturhistorisches Museum" (museum of natural history). If you every come to Vienna, you should really visit at least one of them. The buildings are absolutely gorgeous and the exhibitions, especially the art collection in the KHM, breathtaking.

We went there this week end because they showed a special exhibition with some of Peter Carl Fabergé's works. He was a jeweler from Russia, most famous for the so called "Fabergé Eggs". Of the famous bejeweled eggs only three were shown, but there were lots of other pieces designed and crafted by him or his manufacture. The exhibition lasted only till this week end, and my mum and I had talked about going to see it already before easter, so I decided to invite her to the museum as a Mother's Day gift :)

I used the occasion and dress in Lolita again, and tried a new hair style with my own hair as well! I also noticed that my current petticoat fits this dress a lot better than my old one :3 I tried to balance my outfit between a princess-like style with my Dokuhime inspired hairdo and pearl jewelry, but also to keep it a bit toned down because I was out with my family. I'm not always sure how they feel about me wearing Lolita, but I think my parents liked my outfit quite a lot this time :) My mum even took some photos of me!

The exhibition itself was not too big and very crowded, but it was totally worth the time and money. The displayed jewelry was amazing. They crafted not only those famous eggs in the most incredibly detailed manner, but also all other kinds of beautiful jewelry. Taking photos was forbidden, but I wouldn't have been able to capture the beauty of the displayed items with my cell phone camera anyway. Fabergé's enamel technique was famous and unique because of its iridescent wave- and zig-zag-patterns, and to see those in person was just incredible. What I liked best were a few pieces that were basically life-size models of insects, such as a big dragonfly and a stag beetle, they looked so life like and delicate, as if they were the real thing. There was also one little box that was covered in berries made of jewels - raspberries, blackberries and even gooseberries, that looked exactly like real ones, and even thin and delicate leaves.

I probably could have spent ages in that exhibition, marveling at the jewelry. I am not usually a fan of overly kitschy jewelry. I don't really like gold and prefer jewelry in silver. Wearing pearls with Classic Lolita was already a "big deal" for me. But all the pomp and splendor, not just of the exhibition but also of the building itself, was really impressing and got me kinda hyped.

On some occasions it's possible to enter the gallery just beyond the dome. I already got a bit scared of the height of the gallery we were standing at when we took the photos!

My stepdad went around to the other side while we took photos and played pretend that he was a king or president giving an important speech from that balcony, haha

We used our ticket to have a look at the other exhibits too. There is a lot to see at the museum and all in all I think we spent maybe 3 hours there. There is one large gallery with paintings of the 16th-17th century mostly ( you can get an impression here!) and it was fun to try and guess the depicted scenes - many were based on ancient Greek/Roman mythology and Biblical stories or hagiographies, and as I had Latin at school I learned a lot about these old myths.

We also had a look at the Greek and Roman antiquities. Some of the oldest exhibits there are from the Etruscans and date back to around 600 BC. Turns out, Etruscans and later also Romans were absolutely amazing jewelers too. To imagine that they crafted such delicate things as cameo-rings with pictures smaller than the nail of my little finger so many centuries ago... they really bore the direct comparison with Fabergé !

We didn't see the Egyptian and Near Eastern collection and in the end were also too tired to see the "Kunstkammer" so I definitely have to come back soon!

Aww I'm a bit sad that this photo is so blurry, I love it!

By then our feet were getting a bit sore and we were hungry, so we headed back to the car. My step dad got a brand new car a few weeks ago and I was allowed to drive that day, whoo! (But not with those shoes of course). It has a lot of fancy gimmicks like an automatic start-stop-function when you stop at a traffic light, a rear view camera to facilitate parking (which is great because the car is freaking huge and driving it for the first time and trying to squeeze it into a tiny parking spot in a parking garage it was really I was really glad to have it XD), a control light that tells you to change gears when you drive to drive economically, can be linked with your cell phone and allow to voice control its functions... wow! It was a lot of fun driving it. But, I guess I'm a bit of a car junkie when it comes to that, I like driving a lot, and ever since I don't have to commute to Krems anymore and don't drive any long distances I kinda miss it :'D

My step dad invited us to dinner on our way back home and we went to a really good Greek restaurant. When I was younger I wasn't paricularly fond of the Greek cuisine, mainly because I only knew it from a single restaurant which was pretty bac. Everything they cooked was very greasy and as a kid I had a hard time choosing from their menu. This restaurant really made me change my opinion though - their menu is extensive (they also have a lot of BBQed dishes with all kinds of meat, from lamb to prok, so even as a kid I would have found myself something to eat.) and their dishes delicious! I'm gonna spare you the food photos I took, because they don't look near as delicious as the food actually was! :'D

Instead, here are some photos that represent my outfit a little better! When we got home there was still enough daylight outside to take these! I was pleasantly surprised. It has been raining a lot these days (we actually got floods again in Austria, my parents have been safe for the while though) so light was scarce. Anyway, here's some pics!

When I got home I found out that a girl from our Lolita community works at the KHM and spotted me there! She posted in our facebook group that her colleagues were really excited and everyone there liked my outfit a lot. I felt so flattered! I honestly didn't notice that I drew any attention, positive or negative, except for that one guy who greeted me with "Konnichiwa" and a girl pointing out my shoes to someone. Anyway, I'm happy that the people who work there are so accepting! :)

"I honestly didn't notice that I drew any attention, ... "That's a good sign, isn't it? I mean when you don't feel the looks anymore ... even though there must have been plenty. :D Just look at the pictures. How can you expect not to have twisted some heads? ^^

Yes, I think so too. After all I don't dress like that because I want to turn heads but because I like it :3 As long as people just look and are not rude or anything I don't notice at all. But of course it's also cool when people come over to ask what kind of fashion that is! :D

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